[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 102 (Thursday, July 11, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1257-E1258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  1997

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. WILLIAM J. COYNE

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 27, 1996

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3675) making 
     appropriations for the Department of Transportation and 
     related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 
     1997, and for other purposes:

  Mr. COYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the work of the House 
Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in 
crafting a fiscal year 1997 Appropriations Committee Report that 
includes a directive to the National Highway Traffic Safety 
Administration [NHTSA] to more vigorously promote bicycle safety and 
training. The subcommittee's report included a specific mention of the 
important field of human factors research relating to bicycle safety 
measures. To this end, I wish to draw attention to the ground-breaking 
research underway at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh in 
Pittsburgh, PA, in collaboration with the Carnegie Mellon University in 
Pittsburgh.
  As I stated in testimony before the House Transportation and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee in February, there are over 
580,000 bicycle injuries each year in the United States. Of this amount 
there are approximately 800 fatalities and between 20,000 and 50,000 
bicycle injuries serious enough to require hospitalization or 
rehabilitation. Children between the ages of 5 and 14 are the most 
common victims of bicycle injury head trauma since they spend a lot of 
time riding bicycles and often lack on-road bicycle experience. Greater 
efforts are necessary to insure that children are trained to be safe 
bicyclists and that the bicycles they ride are appropriate for their 
ages and abilities.
  Safe operation of a bicycle arguably requires more skill, knowledge, 
physical ability, coordination, and judgment than the operation of a 
motor vehicle. Taking into consideration the multiple factors necessary 
for bicycling--motor skills, strength, coordination, vision, hearing, 
personality, intelligence, neurologic development, experience, and 
training--more extensive human factors research directed toward 
answering several key questions is needed: At what stage of development 
is a child able to perform the necessary tasks and make the proper 
judgments to safely operate a bicycle? What are the characteristics 
that differentiate safe from unsafe bicyclists? Can we train children 
to be safer bicyclists? Should bicycle designs vary depending on the 
skill and maturation of the child bicycle rider?
  As the subcommittee noted in its fiscal year 1997 report, a recent 
national bicycling and walking study resulted in a recommendation to 
reduce the number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed or injured by 10 
percent. I am pleased to say that the cooperative efforts of Children's 
Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Mellon University will involve 
the use of state-of-the-art technology and will result in: First, 
effective prevention programs to reduce traumatic injuries and deaths; 
second, the introduction of virtual reality as a new means of

[[Page E1258]]

studying trauma; and, third, the development of new approaches and 
products for trauma prevention, a national issue, that will provide 
scientific, intellectual and financial benefits to the Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly support the effort of Children's Hospital of 
Pittsburgh, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, to pursue 
in the near future a partnership with the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration to address the critically important issue of 
preventing bicycle accidents--especially those involving children. I am 
pleased that the committee favorably responded to the efforts of 
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University in 
urging the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to 
collaborate with institutes that are conducting human factors research 
relating to bicycle safety. I believe that the pioneering research to 
be undertaken by Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon 
responds to the committee's recommendation and will provide significant 
benefits to the administration's ongoing work in bicycle safety.

                          ____________________